Lately I’ve been getting back into magic after a 3-4 year hiatus and have been building edh decks but have been struggling to find cuts to slim down my decks to 100 cards. Currently I’m rebuilding one of my all time favorites the locus god. Got it down to 108 cards then sleeved them all up and gold fished until I cut it down to 100 removing the cards that felt lack luster that seemed to work well. What are y’all’s favorite ways to make final cuts or find new cards?
“Quadrant theory,” as I believe it is called, has been a useful tool for assessing which cards stay and which cards can go.
Basically, you break down the game into quadrants (e.g., early game, late game, post-boardwipe, waiting-for-wincon, stalemate, etc.) and consider how a given card will perform in various stages of the game.
A card that can be useful in more game quadrants is obviously preferable to a card that will sit in your hand if you draw it at the wrong time. For example, a counterspell can serve as removal when an opponent drops a threat, or it can protect your board while you go for the win.
This approach favors modal spells at the expense of powerful niche spells, so it should be employed judiciously. But it’s a good way of considering to what extent a card can carry its weight.